Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary

Traudle Junge, a soft, pretty, elegant, and straightforward gray-haired woman, speaks to the camera with utter honesty. Through memories, stories, personal reflections, and attempts at explanation, she recounts her experience working as one of several secretaries to Adolf Hitler during the last years of his reign. She first explains the way that she got the job--simply because she was a good typist--and that she never really intended to be involved with the war, nor did she even realize at the time the crucial role that she played. With deep-seated regret she repeatedly chastises herself for not having realized what was happening outside Hitler's bunker, and what horrors he was bringing upon the world. In hindsight, she says that her youth was no excuse for her ignorance. Inside the bunker, Junge kept a steady schedule, working quietly with Hitler's staff and sharing with him one meal a day and occasional evening tea. Stories she tells about Hitler's personality--that he was soft-spoken, loved his dog, was embarrassed to wear shorts because of his white knees--cast Hitler and the horrors of the Holocaust in a strangely abstracted view. However, Junge's crystal-clear, moment-by-moment recapitulation of the last weeks in the bunker, when Hitler's defeat was imminent, are intense and terrifying. BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY is a rare documentary, in that it keeps its focus on Junge, seated and speaking, throughout its duration. While her stories are captivating, it is her inability to forgive herself and her palpable feelings of regret that give the film its uniqueness.

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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 00267

Critic Reviews

"...[A] fascinating bare-bones documentary..."
Entertainment Weekly

"...The access the filmmakers gained to Junge is remarkable..."
New York Times

"...Riveting....In a daring and successful stylistic choice, directors Heller and Schmiderer include almost nothing in the film but Junge..."
Los Angeles Times

"...Mesmerizing..."
Rolling Stone

"...The result is rare testimony on Hitler's daily life from Jan. 1, 1943, to April 30, 1945, by an eyewitness whose historic vantage ironically kept the rest of German history out of her sight..."
Chicago Sun-Times

"...BLIND SPOT remains an absorbing and powerful documentary..."
Total Film